Showing results by author "Dawn Knox" in All Categories

Betrayed by her family and convicted of a crime she did not commit, Georgiana is sent halfway around the world to the penal colony of Sydney, New South Wales. Aboard the transport ship, the Lady Amelia, Lieutenant Francis Brooks, the ship’s agent, becomes her protector, taking her as his “sea-wife”.

1782 – the final year of the Bonner family’s good fortune. Eva, the eldest child of a respectable London watchmaker becomes guardian to her sister, Keziah, and brother, Henry. Barely more than a child herself, she tries to steer a course through a darker side of London she hadn’t known existed. But her attempts are not enough to keep the family together and she is wrongfully accused of a crime she didn’t commit and transported to the penal colony of Sydney, New South Wales on the Lady Amelia.

The Basilwade stories were originally published on the CaféLit website, where you can access short stories that go nicely with a cuppa. We even suggest a drink! Dawn Knox’s stories contain characters and situations that may seem a little larger than life at first glance but we can soon see that everyone involved is very human. And don’t we all recognise the quirkiness of village/small-town life?

Born 1790; in Sydney, New South Wales, to wealthy parents, Abigail Moran is attractive and intelligent, and other than a birthmark on her hand that her mother loathes, she has everything she could desire. Soon, she’ll marry handsome, witty, Hugh Hanville. Abigail’s life is perfect. Or is it? A chance meeting with a shopgirl, Lottie Jackson, sets in motion a chain of events that finds Abigail in the remote reaches of the Hawkesbury River with sea captain, Christopher Randall.

Take a tour of the exotic Isle of Macaroon with Eddie and his zany friends who will be pleased to show you the cheese mines, Meringue Mountains and the Custard River while they flee unscrupulous promoters, bandit badgers and low-flying seagulls. But a word of advice – don’t refer to Eddie as a chicken, he thinks he’s a bald eagle. And don’t mention Brian’s small stature, he’s rather sensitive about his size. Oh, and don’t call Brian a monkey, he’s actually a lemur. And finally, if Gideon takes a pen out of his pocket and you value your life – duck.

1790 – The year Keziah Bonner and her younger brother, Henry, exchange one nightmare for another. When their elder sister, Eva, is transported for a crime she didn't commit, Keziah and Henry are sent to a London workhouse and separated. The prospect of work and a home in the countryside is offered and both Keziah and Henry leap at the chance. However, the promised job in the cotton mill is relentless, backbreaking work.

In 1790, three-year-old Charlotte Jackson is transported with her convict mother from London to Sydney. Twenty-one years later, Charlotte is offered the chance of a new life in London by the mysterious and brash Ruth Bellamy. Charlotte yearns to belong. A new start in a new country might be just what she needs. On the perilous voyage, she falls for handsome Alexander Melford, also seeking betterment in London.

Annie Sherrington expects nothing from life – and is never disappointed. Cared for by the Foundling Hospital, then apprenticed to a housekeeper, she must live her life serving others. But when she’s falsely accused of theft, Annie is devastated to learn she’ll be transported to the far side of the world as a convict.